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Hi guys, loved the episode and thanks for finding those ridiculous predictions for 2013. A couple of quick and pedantic points, one for you and one for the author.

Firstly, for you: it’s sometimes hard to tell whether you are feigning ignorance or whether it’s part of your charm, but the Duke of Edinburgh is the current Queen’s husband and as such is quite well-known within the Commonwealth. While his death may not have have political repercussions like the death of his wife will, it will still be quite a momentous occasion with a state funeral (I’m guessing) etc.

For the author: I was surprised to see them say that Mongolia would try and cede from China seeing as last time I looked (about 10 seconds ago), Mongolia was a separate country with no current ties to China. I’m guessing they were trying for Tibet but missed by a thousand miles or so! I’ve placed a comment notifying them of their mistake on the page. It’s awaiting moderation; I’ll just have to wait and see if they post it.

Listening to the first five minutes of this episode for a moment I felt like it was directed specifically at me as I have eaten placenta and I was rubbing coffee on my face right then as I was listening LOL. No, I didn’t think it cured cellulite, I use the grounds mixed with sugar to exfoliate because it’s cheaper than buying fancy face scrub and I like the way it smells.

As for the placenta,you didn’t get into why people were doing that. While I don’t know why celebrities were recommending it (I haven’t read the article yet) I can tell tell you why my midwife recommended it. Eating the placenta (your own, not somebody else’s) after giving birth is supposed to help stave off/cope with postnatal depression. It has something to do with the hormones in it. I know my midwife gave me some references on it but it would take some digging to find them just now and I may have to go deal with the baby any minute. I’m a vegetarian so meat of any kind grosses me out a bit, especially organ meats like liver and kidneys (basically anything that’s recognisable as a bit of a formally living thing). Placenta was hands down the most disgusting thing I have ever eaten in my life. However, since it was suggested to me as something to help me get through what can be one of the most trying times in a woman’s life (being constantly sleep deprived, in pain and dealing with all kinds of hormonal crap while being the only person who can feed a helpless newborn) I was willing to give it a shot (and yes, I would have looked into the conventional methods of dealing with depression if I needed to, but I wanted to avoid taking drug that would be passed on to the baby in my milk if I could). My midwife cut it into tiny chunks and froze them so I could down them like pills without tasting it (just had to try not to think too hard about it) every couple of hours. Some people also get it dried and made into capsules. It can also be used during labour to help if a woman is haemoraging (not instead of blood transfusions etc., as well as). I don’t know whether the science behind that is sound, I’ve just heard about it being done. Just thought you guys might be interested because gross as it seems people do do this stuff for a reason.

You often ridicule supplementary and complementary medicine (SCAM) for the language the business uses to promote their view. Quantum mezoplastoenergy is clearly not a thing. At least not as long as nobody can make an empirical claim regarding the validity of given assertion.

However, you state that rape is not crime of sex but rather that of violence and power. This is regular statement in feminist rhetoric and I have heard it many times before. What has always eluded me is what that even means. For my mind that means something along the lines of “a human does not seek sexual gratification by raping” or “rape has no reproductive purpose” but feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.

I find this as nonsensical or misleading as the fluffy language purported by SCAM proponents. I fully appreciate that making empirical claims in medicine is easier than in human behaviour, but I want call you on this one. You are making not-so-critical-thinking argument that is derived from an ideology; something that is prevalent in SCAM business and is shunned in skeptical thinking.

Would you explain what does it mean when rape is not crime of sex but is crime of something else, or at least clarify that you don’t know what you are talking about and this is just entertainment.

I don’t know how much attention do you pay on double standards when applying critical thinking. I know you don’t much care the veracity of the claims you make.

Used (and cool) coffee grounds actually make a good exfoliant scrub. The oils are acidic, and so help break down skin oils. I only do it occasionally, as it makes the shower look nasty, and I get tired of picking coffee grounds out of my hair. However, I do it because I’ve always been happy with the results. I wish I had known about it as a teenager when my acne was bad. As far as cellulite control, it’s my understanding that just massaging the skin helps keep the cellulite from getting chunky, so the result may be a secondary mechanical effect rather than anything chemical.

Relics are usually bits of the body of a holy figure. However, they can also be a very personal item. In the West, this means remnants of clothing a person wore frequently, such as a religious uniform or sandals. In the East, a person’s prayer mat or begging bowl can be a relic.

In Christianity, relics are usually Catholic or from Orthodox denominations, and most are bone chips. Most Protestant faiths consider adoration of relics to be idolatry, as that was one of the specific complaints of Martin Luther.

Oh, good god. My comment has finally made it through moderation and has a wonderful reply by the ‘psychic’. He claims it is Mongolia he saw but he didn’t realise that it wasn’t part of China. He also said that Mongolia would somehow spur China to split into its ‘Cantons’ (by which I’m guessing he means provinces. How exactly a country with a tiny population (<3 million), a tiny military and a government whose policy is to use diplomacy is going to cause China to break up is beyond me. The butterfly effect is the only plausible method I can see! The amount of bullshit and just plain wrong in his reply has to be seen to be believed.